Despite current peace talks between the Ugandan government and
the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Juba, south Sudan, the
authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has pledged
to pursue the LRA rebels hiding in its bushes, the state-owned
Sunday Vision reported on Sunday.
The report said the DRC would start to flush out the LRA from
the Garamba National Park this week.
The statement was in the wake of a meeting between Uganda's
People Defense Force (UPDF) Director of Operations, Clovis
Kalyebara, and Bahuna Ambamba, director of Operations in the Office
of the Chief of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FADRC), at the
headquarters of the External Security Organization in Kampala.
The meeting also followed the talks between Ugandan and DRC
military officials during which several resolutions about the LRA
presence in Garamba were worked out.
"Our expectation now is that the DRC is going to start preparing
for the offensive against the LRA. What we have now is a commitment
of the DRC and the MONUC (the UN mission in the DRC) to move
against the LRA," a source was quoted as saying.
The source said the MONUC officials met the LRA delegation led
by Col. Bonny Libya in May and asked them to leave Garamba or face
attacks.
The Uganda Media Center Director, Robert Kabushenga, welcomed
the DRC assurance.
"It's encouraging that finally the DRC is recognizing its
international obligations and we hope they can recognize that the
LRA is a regional security threat, it has committed atrocities in
Uganda, southern Sudan," he said.
"The UN is aware of this reality and they themselves lost
servicemen. So it's urgent they neutralize the LRA threat," he
said, "It's also important for the LRA to realize that their best
option is to do a deal in Juba because they don't have many
options."
The Ugandan government was trying to negotiate a peace deal with
the LRA delegates in Juba to end one of Africa's longest conflicts
that has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million
homeless in north Uganda.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has offered total amnesty to
the LRA leadership who has been indicted by the International
Criminal Court. The condition of the amnesty was that a final peace
deal must be signed by September 12.
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2006)
